The final European Tour event of the season takes place this weekend when the Gibraltar Darts Trophy is played out. This tournament carries plenty of significance as it will finalise the entry list for the European Championship at the end of the month.
Gerwyn Price will be the man looking to defend the title this week. He has no issues with qualifying for the European Championship so for him it will be all about winning another title to add to his growing collection.
Recent Winners
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2019 – Krzysztof Ratajski
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael Smith
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Michael van Gerwen
2014 – James Wade
2013 – Phil Taylor
The Format
We might not have had many European Tour events last year but the format for these tournaments remains the same as before, which means that the qualifiers meet each other over the course of the play on Friday before the last 32 of the tournament is played over two sessions of action on Saturday, with the last 16 on Sunday afternoon and the quarter finals on Sunday night. They are all the best-of-11 legs with the semi-finals also on Sunday evening. They are the best-of-13 and then the final in the same session is the best-of-15 legs. The draw has been pre-determined and is played in a straight knockout format.
Top Half
We have had enough European Tour events for the Euro Order of Merit to have taken shape this season and it is Luke Humphries who leads the way in it and so he is the top seed this week. He recently became a father so might have lacked a bit of kip which might keep the other seven seeds in the top half interested. They are Belgian Darts Open winner Dave Chisnall, Ryan Searle, the world champion Peter Wright, Michael Smith, Jonny Clayton, Rob Cross and the UK Open champion Danny Noppert.
It is a big weekend for those who are on the outside of the top 32 looking in and three of those players are qualifiers in the top half. They are Wesley Plaisier, Jim Williams and William O’Connor. Mario Vandenbogaerde could still make the European Championship with a deep run while Josh Rock is currently in but needs to keep winning to fend off the chasing pack. Stephen Bunting, Daryl Gurney are class acts in this section while Ryan Joyce needs to win the title to be involved in the European Championship.
Bottom Half
The number two seed Michael van Gerwen leads the way in the bottom half. The newly crowned World Grand Prix champion will be eyeing up a second title in as many weeks but could have to face off against the defending champion Gerwyn Price in the semi-final. Six other seeds will be out to stop that from happening including the man who van Gerwen beat to win the title in Leicester last weekend in Nathan Aspinall. Jose de Sousa, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Damon Heta and Joe Cullen complete a good looking set of qualifiers.
Chris Dobey reached the quarter final of the World Grand Prix last week and is currently £500 outside the top 32 to make it to the European Championship so he has to win his first round match as a qualifier to have a chance of going through. He is chasing down Vincent van der Voort who is also in this half of the draw. John Henderson, Gabriel Clemens, former finalist Mensur Suljovic, Martin Schindler, Keane Barry and Rowby-John Rodiriguez are others to catch the eye.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of outright bets this weekend and they both come in the top half of the draw away from that minefield of a bottom half. Dave Chisnall came through for me in Belgium a couple of weeks ago and I’ll take him to build on that with another win this weekend. He only got edged out in a deciding leg which he didn’t have the throw in against Dimitri Van den Bergh at the World Grand Prix last week so it isn’t as though he folded after winning in Belgium. He has a nice draw here because Luke Humphries might not be in top form after the recent addition to his family. The toughest test ahead of the semi-finals could be Peter Wright but he is very inconsistent these days. Chisnall is playing some good stuff at the minute and if he keeps pinning the doubles he could take a lot of beating this weekend.
The other player I’ll take is the man I think will be a huge superstar in the not too distant future in the form of Josh Rock. He has already made a couple of quarter finals on the European Tour this season and needs to keep winning to book his spot in the European Championship at the end of the month. He spent last week averaging in the high 90s and quite often over 100 in the Development Tour and then made the World Youth Championship final in impressive style. Rock has European Tour wins over Damon Heta, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Krzysztof Ratajski to his name this season and on the floor he has beaten van Duijvenode, Gerwyn Price, Adrian Lewis and Ratajski so he isn’t afraid of the big guns. He’s in quarter two which if he can see off Michael Smith in the second round could open up like a flower. I’ll pay to see how deep he goes here.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall to win Gibraltar Darts Trophy (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back J.Rock to win Gibraltar Darts Trophy (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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